Elms College Names Three New Board of Trustees Members
CHICOPEE — The Elms College board of trustees appointed three regional leaders — Diane Brunelle, Dennis Duquette, and Mark O’Connell — to serve on the board.
“I am delighted to welcome Diane, Dennis, and Mark to the Elms community as they begin their terms on the Elms College board of trustees,” said Harry Dumay, president of the college. “Each brings unique perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds that will complement the talent on our board. Their guidance and support will be important as we advance the mission and vision of Elms, and I look forward to working with each of them.”
Brunelle, a 1984 alumna, is president of the Elms College Alumni Assoc. and has been a member of the association since 2012. She is a retired nurse executive who has more than 30 years of experience serving in leadership positions at acute healthcare facilities in both Massachusetts and Vermont, including Shriners Hospital for Children, Baystate Health, Holyoke Medical Center, and Brattleboro Memorial Hospital. She has served on numerous boards throughout her career and was the recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from Elms in 2013. Brunelle was a member of the college’s first RN-to-BSN class. She also received her master’s degree in nursing administration from the University of Massachusetts and is a graduate of the Wharton Nursing Leaders Program through the Wharton School and Leonard David School of Health Economics at the University of Pennsylvania.
Duquette is head of Community Responsibility for MassMutual in Springfield and president and CEO of the MassMutual Foundation. He and his team are responsible for setting corporate community-relations strategy development and driving community investments, philanthropy, and community-impact program management for the firm nationally. Duquette has worked in financial services for 40 years; he began his career at MassMutual just out of college and then worked for Fidelity Investments in Boston for 27 years. He returned to MassMutual in his current role in 2016. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Boston College, graduating cum laude with a double major in communications and English. He earned a master’s degree in administrative studies, also from Boston College, and later earned a master’s degree in public policy and administration from Northwestern University. He currently serves on the board of directors at the Jump$tart Coalition in Washington, D.C. as well as the community and government relations committee for the Springfield Museums.
O’Connell is a principal in Wolf & Company’s assurance group and is the firm’s president and CEO, responsible for leading Wolf’s overall strategic direction. He has more than 40 years of experience providing audit and financial reporting services to both privately held and publicly traded financial institutions, as well as holding companies (including community banks and mortgage banking institutions) across New England. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Western New England University and is a former board member and board president with the Children’s Study Home in Springfield.
